National Geographic, how I won and lost the contest in less than one second

Come to the next trip with Nomad Photo Expedition
If you want to share with me the pleasure of travelling, discovering
hidden locations, the contact with people of different cultures and,
most of all, the challenge of improving your photographic skills.

It did not take
long to take the winning photograph of the National Geographic Photo 2012: one seventh of a second (1/7 s in
photographic terms), almost the same time it took me to lose the prize.

This is the story of how you can climb to the highest photographic peak and fall in only 72 hours. And why you should carefully read the rules of a contest...

Just landing from my last travel photography trip with Nomad Photo Expedition and reading the posts , I saw onefromNational Geographic. I did
not hurry to open it, it could probablybe
an add, or the acknowledgement of the photographs I had sent at the last minute
to the contest. I have to confess that, to some extend, I got excited before
opening it thinking that -why not?- I possibly couldhave been selected on the top ten . ..

I openedthe mail and read:

"Congratulations! ...... Your photo was Chosen as the winner of the Places
category for the 2012 National Geographic Photo Contest ...."

I almost
fainted: I was the winner of the contest !

My first thought is that I had misread the text. Secondly, that it was a
friend's joke. I reread it several times. It is authentic: the Senior Editor in
personsigns the email .

I won the "Places" category, one of
the most complicated categories for National Geographic, and that in the most
demanding and renowned travel photography magazine in the world ! It's hard to
aim higher in this photographic specialty. This year there were over 22,000
entries from 150 countries.
Onlya couple of steps left:
fillinga document claiming the
ownership of the rights to the image and licensingthe rights for National Geographic. That, in
addition to sending the original digital photography. By the way, I did not
have the "negative" Raw because, unusually, by a mistake settling the
camera (a Fuji
X-pro1), that day only Jpg was set.

Everything was
sent the next day.
And I prepared to enjoy the win ...

Now, I thought, time to tell my closest friends the good news , the same friends that have been suffering myphotographic stories year after year . Later
the next circle of acquaintances. Once the price published, I should prepare a
Press Release. You can not run through such
an event in silence! Something that only happens once in life ...! They were
days of rejoicing, of shared joy. All the hours spent, travelling, flying, uncomfortable
destinations. Everything acquired more
sense after deserving global recognition
on the extraordinary magazine.

It was then when
I received a new mail from the magazine. I was informed by the editor that the
photograph was disqualified: I had
removed a plastic bag on the far right, along the edge of the frame.

The original photograph

But that did not matter! – I thought. Should Ihave minimally displaced the right side of the frame, croping, the damn bag would had never existed in the
picture! It's like winning the Tennis
Grand Slam and losing by stopping to relieve myself on the edge of the tennis
court!

In desperation , I write to Tino Soriano, master of travel photographers, the only official National
Geographic photographer in Spain,
a reference in travel photography. I counted in his experience in this type of competition
- having himself won the World Press Photo Award- as well as his familiarity with National
Geographic matters, to help me focus the problem.

He does not give me great hope. Although he shares the view that the removed bag does not
alter the substance of the picture, he
believes that it will be impossible to meet, again, the jury, the rules do
prevent adding or removing anything and Americans are very strict with rules. National Geographic even more. It is likely
–he says - that such a picture – not being competing in a contest – as it is,
wouldhave been published byNational Geographic itself.

I lunged to the computer and sent a mail to Monica Corcoran, editor of the
magazine, arguing that a crop, perfectly allowed by the rules, would have done
away with the object without further alterations, the bag would have melted with
a slight burning-darkening, that it was unnecessary
to remove anything digitally (the rule that bans deleting or adding tries tosafeguard the spirit or nature of
the photograph. Here the nature nor
spirit of the original photo was not altered) and, most of all, that the minimal,
slight modification did not alter the picture.

After what seemed
–to me- a long wait (only 24 hours I most admit) for the answer, I got:

".. it is unfortunate you did not crop the bag or just leave it in, as it really had no impact either way....".

"... no impact either way ..."!

I've won the Grand Slam, but was disqualified for removing something , that
in fact, would have not changed the final result. And, worst of all, should I have been
the jury, I would have acted in the same, exact way !

Which brings us to another issue : the "authenticity" of photography
and how much can it be altered: darkened,
enlightened, sharpened, reframed, etc.. . Furthermore, the extent to which
rules should apply without prejudice to the spirit of what they are trying to protect.

But it was a contest ... And the rules are the rules...

I have the consolation of knowing that, with or without the bag, this picture is mine. And, worst of all,a very expensive lesson learned: in an event of this importance there is no
room for interpretation. The competition is the competition and the rules are
strictly enforced.

But I now have a unique opportunity in history: the challenge of winning, for the first time in history,
twice the National Geographic Photo
contest!I promise to read, carefully
the rules next time...

Come to the next trip with Nomad Photo Expedition If you want to share with me the pleasure of travelling, discovering hidden locations, the contact with people of different cultures and, most of all, the challenge of improving your photographic skills.